Salesforce.com Foundation pledges $10 million to District 10

The children that Dr. Jamal Harris treats at the Southeast Health Center in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood have often been exposed to violence, drug abuse and sometimes periodic homelessness. Mental health problems may go unaddressed because of the attached stigma.

Now, thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the Salesforce.com Foundation, the public clinic will be the site of a two-year pilot project where up to 1,100 uninsured children can get coordinated physical and mental health treatment to address ailments that have been interfering with them succeeding in school.

The donation to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation and Southeast Health Center is just part of $10 million in grants the cloud software computing giant’s foundation will announce Monday in a coordinated effort to help transform San Francisco’s troubled southeastern neighborhoods.

The funds will be combined with at least 100,000 volunteer hours from Salesforce.com employees and access to the company’s technology products for nonprofits serving the area.

“I think that’s what’s most transformative about this,” said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who represents District 10 on the city’s southeast side. “They’re not just throwing dollars at a problem. They’re putting people on the ground to implement and usher in the change that we’re all trying to bring in.”

The combined $10 million in grants for nonprofits serving Cohen’s district is the single largest monetary donation the Salesforce.com Foundation has made since it was formed in 1999. The funds are focused on improvement in three areas: health care, education and employment.

Grants ranging up to $2.5 million each are going to five entities, including the Exploratorium, which will train and employ high school students; Year Up, a jobs-skills and internship placement program planning to find work for 500 youths from District 10; the Campaign for Hope SF, which is supporting the city’s effort to rebuild public housing projects; and the UCSF Medical Center, to whom Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne donated $100 million in 2010 for the construction of a new children’s hospital.

The $10 million in donations for District 10 come as the company is preparing to host its 10th annual Dreamforce conference starting Tuesday.

But the decision to focus on District 10 wasn’t because of a number fluke or the convenience of its name.

The area has above-average rates of medical problems, crime, pollution, unemployment and underperforming schools, but for several years it has also been in the midst of significant change — the construction of the T-Third light rail line, development of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and the rebuild of public housing projects.

“To us, it was quite obvious that this district and its neighborhoods are vibrant, lively and challenged,” said Barbara Kibbe, chief operating officer of the Salesforce.com Foundation. “Right now, there are many reasons for tremendous optimism. … We felt we could help the transformation of District 10 that’s already under way.”

Some of the 77,000 attendees of the Dreamforce conference will also be pitching in for the District 10 effort, including volunteers on Monday doing trail restoration and clean up in McLaren Park. Conference volunteers will also be creating disaster preparedness kits with the American Red Cross, developing care packages for children in homeless shelters, and building bikes for local youth.